Let’s talk about goal setting. If you are like me, sometimes you hear goal setting and you just want to cringe, and it’s become such a cliché – goal setting, goal setting. However, I can’t tell you enough how important goal setting is. I want to offer some tips on how to look at it differently so that it is more attractive to you than the typical goal setting.

Usually goal setting, the first time we probably ever really thought about goal setting seriously is on the job. During the annual review or semiannual review or quarterly review there’s usually a section on there somewhere where you have to set goals.

I can remember my goal was always the same, but I couldn’t write it down because it had nothing to do with my job, nothing to do with the company. My goal was to not be there the next time we had to write a review. So if that was the next year or the next quarter, that was my goal. I wanted to not be working in Corporate America, but I never could write that goal down because it would be unacceptable, right. So goal setting every time became a task, and I pretty much had to become a fiction writer when it came to those types of forms and goals.

One standard goal is always to continue learning and build upon my current skills, and it just flew off the top of my head. I haven’t written that down in about eight years, but because it was so glued and ingrained in my head when it came to review time, that was the standard number one. Okay. I got one goal. I will always write that one down, and then you try to think of something else, you know, whether it’s related to promoting or team building or something that was recently talked about.

Because of that activity with the reviews and the goal setting and that, goal setting was like put off to the point that it was put off in a personal way as well. I didn’t write down personal goals. Clearly, I had goals for myself. I just didn’t label them goals. Because remember that one goal I couldn’t write down, which was to not be here next year. That was always my goal. So now that I’m outside the bubble, goals are fun.

Think about goals as what you want for yourself, for your family, for your life – your wants with a timeline.

There are some things that are out of our control. Some things are wants, but on the other end of that is someone else’s decision, and so what we have to do is do everything within our power and control by a certain amount of time, because a lot receiving the things that we want has to do with the actions we take within the time we have.

So we look at what do you want five months from now? What do you want your five months from now to look like? What do you want your three weeks from now to look like? What do you want a month from now to look like, a year from now, two years from now? What do you want that to look like for yourself, for your family, for your life? Those become your goals. Those are the things that you strive for and reach towards and always keep inside of you.

Goal setting is not this task that you just do because someone told you you did, or you heard that people who set goals are the ones who achieve, or people who succeed set goals. No. Set goals because you have things that you want and desire for your life, and as a result, you’ve put that down on paper somewhere. Not just in your computer or on your phone, but write it somewhere. Write it down.

Have fun with capturing how you want things to be so many months, days, years from now, and remembering the podcast from last week, detaching from the outcome of it.

What we can do is put into action those things that are within our control. For example, if your goal was like mine when I was working in Corporate – not to be there this time next year, where do you want to be instead if not there? Is it somewhere else? Is it working your home business full-time? What does that look like for you? What would be required to get you there?

Once you know the requirements to get you there, what is within your control based on your actions? What do you need to do to get the wheel moving in that direction towards that goal? What do you need to do? I’m not going to list all the things you need to do for that because it’s your goal, right, and you know the things that you have to do to get in motion to get there. We always know.

It’s just like to lose weight, we all know what to do to lose weight – eat healthier and exercise. It’s 80% what we eat and 20% what we move, right. We know that. But yet there are thousands of different diet plans and programs and all these things that have a new way of telling you that same thing. I’m not going to be added to the list of telling you what’s needed in order to put your actions in motion. You know what that is. You know what that looks like.

Things that get you there, and it’s not stuff. It’s not ordering business cards. What does ordering business cards do? Nothing. Nothing. The action behind the business card would be I need to give my business card to someone who is interested in what I have to offer. Printing the business card is not an action towards the goal. It’s not. It’s the thing that you have to do in order to give it to someone who’s interested in what you do. It’s like a side item of the action, because you could have several boxes of cards from Vistaprint sitting in your office over time, and nothing happens but they just collect dust. That doesn’t get you towards your goal. It’s the action. Get out there. Meet some people. Send out some proposals.

Another side thing – we confuse side activity with action towards the goal. Getting the business cards printed, that’s a side activity. Training, getting your skills up, that’s a side activity. Because you could get your skills up all day long, but never get a client. Isn’t that something? Skills is a side activity to the action because most likely you have something that you could offer right now today to get you towards your goal if your goal is to have clients so that you can be working your business however you want, part-time, full-time, whatever.

We take in so much information thinking that we’re doing something, and if the goal is to have a profitable business, it has nothing to do with getting that skill up. Because you learn it, skills are great, even get certified in it, but if you don’t get moving, if you don’t tell anybody that you’ve done it, that you can provide this service, if you don’t start doing it for yourself or someone else, it doesn’t matter. Now, if your goal is to get certified in something, totally different. Then the action would be to take the class and take the test that you need to, to get to that goal.

Look at it from the standpoint of all the parts required to get there. What’s required to get there from me? It’s going to look different for everybody, because we’re all unique. We all have different wants and desires. It just varies.

But this is a fun thing. This is a fun activity and you’ll find yourself accomplishing things you never thought you would have time for or be able to do, because you’ve written it down and now it’s in sight. So that when the tough times come, you remember, no, no, no, my goal is five new clients by fall. No, my goal is sending out three proposals a day. No, my goal is to save enough so that I can leave this job. Whatever your goal is. My goal is to not be tied down to anything, a home, a car, or anything, so I can travel the world and work my business and be location independent. Whatever your goal is, and that applies to things you want for your family as well, for your life, and for your business.

Once you’re in a business, you should have goals for the business.

It doesn’t have to always be tied to finances. Maybe it’s to get your social media campaigns up and running. Maybe it’s to get some consistency in your blog writing, so you set a particular day that you write your blog post, or to start a new podcast and you have a set day that you record your podcast and a set time that you get it out. Whatever it is, but starting looking at goal setting from the things that you want in your life, the things you know God has purposed you to do, but you know you have to do your part. It’s dependent on setting the goals so that you can keep them in sight. Keep them in sight.

I like watching documentaries and 30 for 30. 30 for 30 is actually what got me interested in sports. I never was a sports person. I cheered in school and stuff, but I didn’t know what was going on in the game. I wasn’t into it like that. I had no clue. But I tell you, when I start watching ESPN’s 30 for 30, that helped me see the human side of the athletes and see them as people. I’m just a person that loves stories and hearing what people’s stories are, and so that brought me close to them, which you know, makes you interested in the game and what happens and all that stuff.

For you guys that like sports, the goal is in sight. That’s what we have to do, keep our goal in sight.

That’s what all this vision board is about, keeping your goals in sight. I don’t have a vision board. I haven’t gotten into that, but my goals are in sight. I know what I’m striving for. I know what I’m working towards, and it’s not a certain type of car. I got over that a long time ago because I figure, you know, you’re inside of your car; all cars are about the same on the inside. Your car could be whatever you want it to be when you’re sitting on the inside. It doesn’t matter, you know, it’s just a thing. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make an impact on somebody else’s life. It doesn’t help change them. It doesn’t help progress them. It doesn’t make any contribution to society. It’s just a thing. It’s just nice.

What are you striving for? It’s time to set goals for you. Not setting goals for somebody else, because a lot of times that’s what the jobs want you to do is set a goal really keeping it all about them, not about you. This is what you do to be selfish – goal setting all about you, all about your family, all about your life.

I challenge you this weekend to get busy having fun with your goal setting.

Look at what you want things to look like five months from now, three years from now, five years from now, whatever. Whatever it is, doesn’t matter, whatever. Actually, probably should be better to make it a shorter timeframe to get you started so that things, I don’t want to say are realistic, but if I set a goal ten years from now and I always think about how old I’d be based on, you know, the time and it seems so far away when I think about what that number is. I’m not even ready to even mouth the words of what that number is ten years from now, and if you think about ten years before, ten years before seemed like yesterday. Time goes by so quickly.

It’s possible that the goals we set now, our six-month goal, our one-year goal, will shape and determine the ten-year. So before you go to the ten-year, what’s your 90-day? What’s your six-month? What’s your year? Start with that first, and you’ll be surprised at how your mindset changes because now the goal is in sight. How you approach things differently because the goal is in sight. What becomes important to you, things that you would do casually like maybe watch television or maybe entertain certain conversations or games or whatever, no longer becomes important because you’ve got these goals in sight and you want to get there, and you think, man, you know what, let me do such and such right quick. I can do that. Because that’s getting you closer to your goal now that they are in sight.

You’re important. Your business is important. You make a difference and your goals matter.

Thanks so much for tuning in. If you like what you heard, stay tuned. We’ll be back. Tell me what’s going on with you. Come on over the Facebook page: facebook.com/tiffanyparsonbiz, or if you prefer a little shorter message, come on over to Twitter: @tiffanydparson.

Hi I’m Tiffany Parson!

I am a coach to those interested in providing services to clients from the comforts of home. As the CEO and Founder of Virtual Hired Hand. I am a Technical Implementation Strategist serving clients since 2008. I show business owners how to utilize a WordPress, Social Media, Webinars, Teleseminars and Podcasts to get their message online.

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Mission:

Connecting women with their dreams of owning location independent businesses for themselves as virtual service providers.

Hi I’m Tiffany Parson!

And I want to see your dreams come true. Whether you're looking to be a virtual assistant business owner, freelancer, or work from home part-time, I'd love to help you get moving. My specialty is connecting you with the you God created you to be. Everything we reach for leads us to the next thing. What are you reaching for?